The DEA has a new plant in its crosshairs

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has another plant in its
crosshairs.

On August 31, The DEA
announced a temporary federal ban on kratom,
a Southeast Asian plant used to alleviate pain and stress and,
sometimes, as a stimulant.

Usually crushed and mixed into water, or taken as a pill,
kratom has gained popularity in recent years as
an alternative painkiller to opioids.

The agency said they were planning on listing kratom's
active ingredients on Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances
Act.

Schedule 1 substances are those that have both a high
potential for abuse, and no currently accepted medical use in the
US.

The DEA is acting quickly to list kratom's active chemicals on
Schedule 1 to avoid "imminent hazard to the public safety,"
the DEA wrote on the
Federal Register.

This announcement, however, has made some activist groups livid.

"We are now facing our darkest hour," The American Kratom
Association, a non-profit founded in 2014, wrote on its website,
in a post titled:
"You could be a criminal this time next month!"

The post continues:

"Countless people depend on this safe and effective herbal
remedy related to coffee that was sacred to the Buddhists, who
have used it safely for thousands of years. Many of you depend on
this healing leaf for your general well-being, pain and
suffering, depression, anxiety, PTSD, opioid dependency and
more."

John Hudak, a drug policy expert at The Brookings Institution,
told
The Washington Post on Thursday that listing kratom on
Schedule 1 would make it difficult for scientists to obtain
samples of the plant, which would limit the research necessary to
accurately determine whether kratom has medicinal value.

Jag Davies, the communications director for the Drug Policy
Alliance, reflected Hudak's concerns in a story for the
Huffington Post on Wednesday.

"Many people struggling with opioid addiction have turned
to kratom to help them cut back or quit, but now all promising
scientific studies on kratom’s role in opioid treatment
could be immediately shut down," Davies wrote.